Help

Newsletter

Keeping Muschamp getting harder for Foley to justify

After an embarrassing home loss to Vanderbilt two weeks ago, annoyed Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley felt compelled to publicly come out “1000 percent” in support of football coach Will Muschamp’s return for next season.

Well, that show of extraordinary loyalty in the face of howling criticism from Gator nation will now have Foley backed up against the wall.

Under no injury circumstances can Florida unravel like it did Saturday, losing 26-20 to a pedestrian Football Championship Subdivision team like Georgia Southern. That should never happen.

This wasn’t the late Erk Russell’s Eagles, a one-time Division I-AA power, that slayed the Gators in their own house. This was a middle-of-the-pack Southern Conference team that lost 38-14 to 4-8 Appalachian State.

In the aftermath of UF’s sixth consecutive loss, easily the worst in program history, Muschamp spouted the same tiresome explanations for the Gators’ malaise. He talked about how his team struggles to score points every week, adding: “My job is to get it fixed, and we will get it fixed.”

Sorry, but that sales job looks more like a coach with no answers on how the Gators can be repaired. It certainly doesn’t look fixable by next year, by which time Muschamp will already be sitting on the hottest seat in the country. That is, if Foley doesn’t succumb to the rising public criticism, call an audible, and dismiss his coach after Florida State ends UF’s miserable season in a rout on Saturday.

The problem with retaining Muschamp after the latest debacle is there’s little evidence of hope on the horizon. Florida has a pitiful offense that nobody wants to watch. Muschamp, with a 22-15 record in his third season, admitted recently that his team had a “woe-is-me attitude.” On top of that, boos and empty seats are increasing at Florida Field.

Losing at home in the same month to Vanderbilt and Georgia Southern is 100 times worse than Ron Zook falling on the road at Mississippi State, which got him fired midway through the 2004 season.

Foley has a huge mess on his hands. He either has to go back on his word and fire Muschamp, or stick with a coach that appears lost for answers.

The noise in the system is deafening. Hiring Muschamp is looking more and more like Foley’s Folly.